MOGADISHU — A man in Somali military uniform shot dead a local TV journalist in the streets of the capital Mogadishu Sunday, a security official said, adding that they were investigating the killing.

The attacker shot Abdisalan Sheikh Hassan, who worked for local station Horn Cable TV, several times in the shoulder and stomach in the city’s southern Hamar-Jajab district, according to witnesses.

“The initial reports we have received so far indicate that the journalist was shot dead by a man armed with an AK47. We understand that the man was in Somali military uniform but we are still investigating,” security official Mohamed Bakar told AFP.

“We are not sure about the identity of the assailant,” Bakar added.

Witness Abdikarin Osman said the armed man ordered Hassan to stop and then shot him repeatedly.

“I saw a man in military uniform stop the journalist in front of a shop and he opened fire on him, leaving him seriously injured, he was rushed to the hospital,” Osman said.

War-torn Somalia is one of the world’s most dangerous countries, and the deadliest in Africa for journalists.

According to Paris-based press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders, Abdisalan Sheikh Hassan’s death brings to at least 24 the number of media personnel who have been killed in Somalia since 2007.

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AFP

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